


Wide Open Spaces

by darkling59



Series: Annals of the Incomplete [21]
Category: The Pretender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Mental Illness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-16
Updated: 2015-03-16
Packaged: 2018-03-17 23:17:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3547421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darkling59/pseuds/darkling59
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Angelo leaves the Center on a mission</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wide Open Spaces

“Easy buddy…just hang in there…” Jarod unwound the barbed wire, carefully untangling it from Angelo's torn skin and wincing in sympathy whenever his patient whined or whimpered in pain. How on earth did the empath manage to get into these messes? In the Center there wasn’t any force that could keep up with him but outside…well, let’s just say one of the reasons Angelo hadn’t run away was that he didn’t have the faculties to survive.

“Sharp…”

“Yes Angelo, very sharp. What were you doing trying to get past the farmer’s fence like that?”

“Friend…angry…”

“Not angry, just confused. Was there something wrong? Is everyone okay?”

“Little one sad…”

The pretender frowned in confusion, stilling his hands in order to divert attention to Angelo’s eyes. “Little one? Who’s that?”

“Confused…”

“Mhm…” he went back to getting two feet of barbed wire out of his friend’s hand and arm, grateful for once that the other man had a high threshold for pain (thanks to his position as Raines’ science experiment). Most people would need to be anesthetized or at least sedated before such a procedure to spare themselves the agony and the doctor the grief of a screamer…strange how sharp objects always seemed to hurt more coming out than going in…Unfortunately, Jarod had no drugs or syringes with him so Advil and Tylenol would just have to do.

“There you go. Wire’s out.”

Angelo sighed softly, relaxing on the coffee table (Jarod’s impromptu operating table) and closing his eyes. He was used to this…medical procedures and experiments were the norm and Raines had overstepped his limits more than once in testing his capabilities. Next would come something painful to clean the cuts, then a bandage and a tetanus shot.

He turned his arm to expose the juncture of his elbow for an injection; an instinctual response that Jarod quickly took note of. He hid his frown at the evidence of abuse in favor of concern.

“What’s wrong Angelo? Is there something wrong?” He took a break from applying peroxide (garnered from the hotel’s first aid kit) and touched the proffered spot gently.

“Tet’nis…”

“Ah…no. No Tetanus shot this time. I don’t have the equipment. Ask Sydney to give you one when you get back.”

“Not back…little one scared…”

“You…aren’t going back?”

“Little one…”

“yes, I heard you. Who is the ‘little one’?”

But Angelo didn’t answer. His bright blue eyes remained focused on some point far away, vacant to anything Jarod wanted to learn from him.


End file.
